May 2020
The May 2020 issue includes stories on ‘Farmers’ Market Preview’, ‘(Stay At) Home Office’, and ‘Beacon: A City Rises Up’ among others.
In Mask Law Reform, New York Grapples with the Weight of Protest History
Editor’s note: For the first time in nearly three months, the coronavirus pandemic is not the biggest story in America. We’ve watched in anger and sadness as protests erupted across the country this weekend, from Minneapolis to Los Angeles, New York City to New Paltz. We’re strategizing ways to meet this moment; to bring a…
The Future of Entertainment? Look to the Past, and Drive-In Theaters
On a balmy May afternoon, a black sedan, one of dozens of cars lined up bumper to bumper off the Warwick Turnpike, turns and pulls up to one of the ticket booths at the Warwick Drive-In Theater. Janell Hallick greets the customer before scanning the QR code ticket on his phone. She sends him on…
Coronavirus Roundup: Yet More Confusion Over Reopening, Plus a New Mask Order
This is a roundup of coronavirus news and announcements from New York State and Hudson Valley and Catskills counties published on Thursday, May 28. Produced in collaboration with The Other Hudson Valley. NEW YORK STATE366,733 cases confirmed (1,768 new)1,876,789 tests performed (65,245 new)23,722 deaths (79 new)78,043 hospitalizations (overall)4,010 hospitalizations (current)1,219 ICU admissionsNew York State coronavirus…
Coronavirus Roundup: Who Is to Blame for the Nursing Home Crisis?
This is a roundup of coronavirus news and announcements from New York State and Hudson Valley and Catskills counties published on Wednesday, May 27. Produced in collaboration with The Other Hudson Valley. NEW YORK STATE364,965 cases confirmed (1,129 new)1,811,544 tests performed (37,416 new)23,643 deaths (79 new)77,838 hospitalizations (overall)4,208 hospitalizations (current)1,261 ICU admissionsNew York State coronavirus…
Five New Online Hudson Valley Happenings
Music, theater, classes—and Opus 40 is open for socially distant visits.
Coronavirus Roundup: Phase One Businesses Reopen in Mid-Hudson Region
This is a roundup of coronavirus news and announcements from New York State and Hudson Valley and Catskills counties published on Tuesday, May 26. NEW YORK STATE363,836 cases confirmed (1,072 new)1,774,128 tests performed (34,679 new)23,564 deaths (76 new)77,637 hospitalizations (overall)4,265 hospitalizations (current)1,273 ICU admissionsNew York State coronavirus pageNew York State official pressroomHotline: (888) 364-3065 The…
Coronavirus Roundup: Mid-Hudson Region Cleared to Reopen Tuesday
This is a roundup of coronavirus news and announcements from New York State and Hudson Valley and Catskills counties published on Sunday, May 24. Produced in collaboration with The Other Hudson Valley. PROGRAMMING NOTE: We’re taking the holiday off on Monday. Happy Memorial Day, reader. We will be back on Tuesday, May 26. NEW YORK…
Coronavirus Roundup: School Elections Provide Early Test of Mail-In Voting
This is a roundup of coronavirus news and announcements from New York State and Hudson Valley and Catskills counties published on Thursday, May 21. Produced in collaboration with The Other Hudson Valley. LOCAL DIVESchool districts across the nation are coping with the unprecedented challenge of teaching remotely. All over New York State this week, public…
Fighting On The Front Lines
Some names have been changed to protect the anonymity of individuals. For Melissa Walsh, a nurse at Orange Regional Medical Center, the worst part of being a health care worker during the COVID-19 pandemic is having to tell hopeful family members that their intubated loved one’s health is declining. “I have to talk to the…
Coronavirus Roundup: CDC Releases Detailed Reopening Guidelines
This is a roundup of coronavirus news and announcements from New York State and Hudson Valley and Catskills counties published on Wednesday, May 20. Produced in collaboration with The Other Hudson Valley. NEW YORK STATE354,370 cases confirmed (1,525 new)1,505,836 tests performed (38,097 new)22,976 deaths (133 new)76,410 hospitalizations (overall)5,570 hospitalizations (current)1,836 ICU admissionsNew York State coronavirus…
Five Hudson Valley Happenings This Week (Online and Offline)
Stay safe and have fun as you enjoy these selected activities.
Coronavirus Roundup: Capital Region to Reopen Wednesday
This is a roundup of coronavirus news and announcements from New York State and Hudson Valley and Catskills counties published on Tuesday, May 19. Produced in collaboration with The Other Hudson Valley. NEW YORK STATE352,845 cases confirmed (1,474 new)1,467,739 tests performed (28,182 new)22,843 deaths (114 new)76,168 hospitalizations (overall)5,818 hospitalizations (current)1,836 ICU admissionsNew York State coronavirus…
Coronavirus Roundup: Legislators Weigh Raising Taxes to Close Budget Gaps
This is a roundup of coronavirus news and announcements from New York State and Hudson Valley and Catskills counties published on Monday, May 18. NEW YORK STATE353,371 cases confirmed (1,250 new)1,439,557 tests performed (26,161 new)22,729 deaths (110 new)75,870 hospitalizations (overall)5,840 hospitalizations (current)1,908 ICU admissionsNew York State coronavirus pageNew York State official pressroomHotline: (888) 364-3065 Western…
The Tug-of-War Over Summer Camps During COVID-19
Every summer, hundreds of thousands of people flood the Catskill Mountains to attend summer camps. The camps differ so much from each other it’s hard to put them in the same category—there are Orthodox Jewish children’s camps, YMCA camps, family-oriented RV parks, glamping sites, municipal day camps, and even a camp for Latvian Evangelicals. The…
Coronavirus Roundup: State Launches Testing Website, Expands Criteria
This is a roundup of coronavirus news and announcements from New York State and Hudson Valley and Catskills counties published on Sunday, May 17. Produced in collaboration with The Other Hudson Valley. NEW YORK STATE350,121 cases confirmed (1,889 new)1,413,396 tests performed (34,679 new)22,619 deaths (141 new)75,525 hospitalizations (overall)5,897 hospitalizations (current)1,981 ICU admissionsNew York State coronavirus…
‘The industry is over’: Hudson Valley Restaurants Confront the Pandemic
On March 18, two days after Governor Andrew Cuomo ordered restaurant dining rooms shut down indefinitely to combat the spread of the coronavirus, Denee Francese-Smith sat alone poring over a ledger, trying to decide what to do next. Francese-Smith and her sister, Shani, opened Sissy’s Cafe in uptown Kingston back in 2011, and had built…
Coronavirus Roundup: Widespread Confusion Over Reopening Guidelines
This is a roundup of coronavirus news and announcements from New York State and Hudson Valley and Catskills counties published on Thursday, May 14. Produced in collaboration with The Other Hudson Valley. Note: We are now grouping local updates by region and tracking active cases in every county that provides numbers. A couple of times…
Coronavirus Roundup: Local Leaders Survey; Positive Hospitalization Trends
This is a roundup of coronavirus news and announcements from New York State and Hudson Valley and Catskills counties published on Wednesday, May 13. Produced in collaboration with The Other Hudson Valley. NEW YORK STATE340,661 cases confirmed (2,176 new)1,258,907 tests performed (33,794 new)22,013 deaths (168 new)73,963 hospitalizations (overall)6,946 hospitalizations (current)2,308 ICU admissionsConfirmed cases per 10,000…
Five Hudson Valley Online Events to Enjoy
There’s plenty to occupy your time with on the internet—and much of it’s being generated by local Hudson Valley arts facilities
Coronavirus Roundup: Another Reason to Wear a Mask
This is a roundup of coronavirus news and announcements from New York State and Hudson Valley and Catskills counties published on Tuesday, May 12. Produced in collaboration with The Other Hudson Valley. Note: Starting today, we are grouping local updates by region and tracking active cases in every county that provides numbers. A couple of…
Lost In Translation During the Coronavirus Crisis
During the ongoing public-health crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic, time-sensitive information is being released that is not always readily available in languages other than English. There are constant updates and numbers changing that might make it difficult for a limited English-proficient speaker to keep up. What happens to an already vulnerable population when they can’t…
Coronavirus Roundup: More Details on Regional Reopening Plans
This is a roundup of coronavirus news and announcements from New York State and Hudson Valley and Catskills counties published on Monday, May 11. Produced in collaboration with The Other Hudson Valley. NEW YORK STATE337,055 cases confirmed (1,660 new)1,204,651 tests performed (21,653 new)21,640 deaths (162 new)73,143 hospitalizations (overall)7,226 hospitalizations (current)2,450 ICU admissionsConfirmed cases per 10,000…
Coronavirus Roundup: When Will New York State Reopen?
This is a roundup of coronavirus news and announcements from New York State and Hudson Valley and Catskills counties published on Sunday, May 10. Produced in collaboration with The Other Hudson Valley. NEW YORK STATE335,395 cases confirmed (2,273 new)1,182,998 tests performed (29,230 new)21,478 deaths (207 new)72,715 hospitalizations (overall)7,262 hospitalizations (current)2,488 ICU admissionsConfirmed cases per 10,000…
Coronavirus Roundup: Eviction Moratorium Extended, New York Was Virus’s Gateway
This is a roundup of coronavirus news and announcements from New York State and Hudson Valley and Catskills counties published on Thursday, May 7. Produced in collaboration with The Other Hudson Valley. NEW YORK STATE327,649 cases confirmed (3,671 new)1,089,916 tests performed (33,995 new)20,828 deaths (951 new) *see explanation for spike below71,152 hospitalizations (overall)8,665 hospitalizations (current)2,976…
Hudson Valley College Town Economies Struggle to Adapt During Students’ Absence
Hudson Valley college towns are reeling without students’ spending power since the advent of distance learning. As they struggle to rely on local residents, counties await Governor Andrew Cuomo’s directives to slowly reopen their economies and save struggling small businesses.
Coronavirus Roundup: Billionaires in Charge, Surprising Hospitalization Trends
This is a roundup of coronavirus news and announcements from New York State and Hudson Valley and Catskills counties published on Wednesday, May 6. Produced in collaboration with The Other Hudson Valley. NEW YORK STATE323,978 cases confirmed (2,786 new)1,055,921 tests performed (27,022 new)19,877 deaths (232 new)9,179 hospitalizations (current)Confirmed cases per 10,000 residents: 167New York State…
Coronavirus Roundup: Democratic Primary Back On, Skoufis Recovered
This is a roundup of coronavirus news and announcements from New York State and Hudson Valley and Catskills counties published on Tuesday, May 5. Produced in collaboration with The Other Hudson Valley. NEW YORK STATE321,192 cases confirmed (2,239 new)1,028,899 tests performed (21,859 new)19,645 deaths (230 new)69,867 hospitalizations (overall)9,603 hospitalizations (current)Confirmed cases per 10,000 residents: 165New…
It’s Giving Newsday. Will You Support Local Journalism?
Since its launch 18 months ago, the mission of The River has been to provide a regional lens on topics of national importance. Our goal is to be a community asset, producing in-depth, quality journalism for the Hudson Valley and Catskills regions. As the coronavirus pandemic has quickly become the defining issue of our short…
Coronavirus Roundup: 1 Million Tests, Factors for Regional Reopening
This is a roundup of coronavirus news and announcements from New York State and Hudson Valley and Catskills counties published on Monday, May 4. NEW YORK STATE318,953 cases confirmed (2,538 new)1,007,310 tests performed (21,399 new)19,415 deaths (226 new)69,331 hospitalizations (overall)9,647 hospitalizations (current)Confirmed cases per 10,000 residents: 164New York State coronavirus pageNew York State official pressroomHotline:…
Coronavirus Roundup: Mental Health Prioritized, Schools Closed for Academic Year
This is a roundup of coronavirus news and announcements from New York State and Hudson Valley and Catskills counties published on Sunday, May 3. Produced in collaboration with The Other Hudson Valley. NEW YORK STATE316,415 cases confirmed (3,438 new)985,911 tests performed (26,840 new)19,189 deaths (280 new)68,736 hospitalizations (overall)9,786 hospitalizations (current)Confirmed cases per 10,000 residents: 163New…
‘Nurses have been betrayed. We are not going to let this happen again.’
Throughout New York State and the Hudson Valley, people who swore an oath to serve the sick are working at tremendous risk to themselves and their loved ones, struggling against hostile conditions to save the lives of people stricken with the novel coronavirus. They face long shifts, staff shortages, reduced supplies of personal protective equipment…
On the Cover | May 2020 | Little COVID Prince by Chris Buzelli
Taking a deeper look into the art of Chris Buzelli.
Why We Stayed Home
We are staying home, we are staying safe, we are #flatteningthecurve. We are waking up to beg the children to go back to sleep—just five more minutes. We make strong coffee and divide the day on whiteboards. We color code to distinguish who needs to be working and who wrangling. We wait for the homework…
An Excellent Grocery Store
This will sound odd, perhaps, but when this crisis began my real worry wasn’t that I would fall sick. My greater fear was that I wouldn’t be able to get food for my kids. It was perhaps irrational, this fear. When I went to the large grocery stores in Poughkeepsie, I saw that people were…
Isolation To-Do List
1. Wake up. Optional. 2. Get dressed. Optional. 3. Coffee. 4. Grunt at family and confirm that elderly cat still alive. 5. News 6. Coffee and amphetamines and Xanax. 7. Eat breakfast. Or not. But probably. Most important meal of the day. (Insert random semi-structured intervals throughout day of child-centered madness and your inability to…
Benched
I spent the first few weeks of New York’s COVID-19 epidemic the way I’ve spent the past 18 years, as a working journalist covering the Hudson Valley. It had been that way since 2002 when I arrived at The Daily Freeman with a belated BA in journalism from Brooklyn College, a pregnant wife and a…
The Unemployed and Single Lockdown Manifesto
Mandatory daily walk, even if it’s just around the block. Sit outside and watch things for a while. Longer. Longer still. When you clean your space, pretend like your apartment is a bed and breakfast and you’re preparing for a special guest to arrive. Get dressed (out of PJs) at least every other day. Do…
Letter from Buenos Aires
Every day starts the same. The beep of the thermometer while I sit on the toilet peeing. I don’t bother working out the math anymore. Less than 37 Celsius, I’m good. No coronavirus today! Sometimes after my pissing temperature routine I stand on the hot pink scale I recently had delivered from the local pharmacy…
The Worker Writers School Makes Poets of Essential Workers
A profile of Mark Nowak and the Workers Writers School.
Insomnia
It could be worse. I could be 17 and quarantined with my two younger siblings, my parents, and my grandmother. Like my oldest daughter, Z. She sleeps all day and stays up all night. When she goes outside, I ask if she has her mask. On the twenty-third day of quarantine, we decide to go…
Capricorn Horoscope | May 2020
You’ve been on a powerful trajectory, slow down and make note of your stress levels.
Performance Anxiety: Hudson Valley Artists and Art Directors on Coping with COVID
Local creatives talk about what the future looks like for their arts organizations on the other side of the crisis.
A Day in the Life Under Quarantine
I wake up. Should I have tea or coffee? Can’t make up my mind. Should I have a shower first? Can’t make up my mind. Such are the existential dilemmas brought about by life in quarantine. I skip the shower and have tea. Should I take a walk or do yoga? I try not to…
Aquarius Horoscope | May 2020
You have adjusted to the isolation period beautifully, now it’s time to return to the normal before Coronavirus.
From Virtual Shows to Outdoor Art, Here are 6 Exhibits to Check out this May
A gallery of virtual and outdoor exhibits to scout out around the Hudson Valley this month.
Closing Time
It’s a few minutes before six, the new early closing time at my local market. The lines are not long. Everyone knows by now not to go to shopping late, when everything’s picked over and the air is filled with other people’s exhalations. There’s only one woman ahead of me. She’s packing her groceries so…
Pisces Horoscope | May 2020
This month’s mantra is patience. Try to discern between the authentic and the false.
May 2020 Astrology Forecast
May’s greatest danger is restless energy and the temptation to succumb to impatience. Parse through the information and offers available, using your discernment to judge what is real and what is not.
Essential Service
I don’t think I’m so original as I once was. Or maybe I never really was, only tried to be. Now it just seems to matter less. Maybe because I’ve been reading Grace Paley. She writes lines like, In memory of him and out of respect for mankind, I decided to live for love. I…
The World is Still Beautiful: Carolyn Marks Blackwood
A photo by Carolyn Marks Blackwood.
Aries Horoscope | May 2020
This is no time to be a risk taking daredevil, instead look deeper at the relationships around you.
Brushing and Flossing Daily
Of course, it started on Friday the 13th. I awoke to a series of missed calls and endless group texts from my colleagues and within the course of a few hours, I went from working 12 hour days to unemployed for the unforeseeable future. As did many, I went to the grocery store to stock…
Esteemed Reader | May 2020
Publisher Jason Stern looks at the definitions of ‘quarantine’ and compares their meaning to our current situation.
Taurus Horoscope | May 2020
Turn lemons into lemonade. Use this time for some home improvement projects instead of wallowing in your restlessness.
My Seder
There was relief in not having to fight the traffic to get to my aunt’s house in Staten Island for Passover. As Brooklyn natives (neither of whom still live in Brooklyn;) why she ever moved to that unspeakable borough is one of the many perennial topics of discussion I could have expected to have with…
Domestic Pandemic: Stories from the Home Front
In April, we put out the call for submissions for first-person accounts of life in the contagion. The frustrations, the joys, the disruption, the boredom. We asked for journal entries, to- do lists, letters to dead relatives, manifestos, cries in the dark, homilies—every scrap of it. We wanted to get a snapshot of what it’s…
Editor’s Note: Quaranta | May 2020
Chronogram’s editorial director Brian K Mahoney makes comparisons to past pandemics and discovers little difference between now and then.
Gemini Horoscope | May 2020
Your luck may improve this month with an unexpected revenue stream.
The Full-Time Quarantine
Amidst boastful homeschooling parents and social media broadcasts of hikes and outdoor adventures, I reflect upon the sobering reality of what my week looks like and I feel ashamed of its stark comparison. Monday through Friday I hide from my children behind a computer screen and then I race to make up for such actions…
Thursday
There’s the ebb and flow of happiness and tears here. Lots and lots of both. And there’s also a neat little surprise. First, the happiness. My grown son is home with me here, up from Brooklyn, now for over nearly a month. He smartly, and poignantly, rang me up and said, “I think I want…
Hudson Valley Farmers’ Markets in the Era of Coronavirus
For the 2020 season, COVID-19 changes are afoot.
Above the Funeral Home
Since being directed to shelter in place on March 16, I am mostly home alone. Home just happens to be an apartment on the top floor of a funeral home. The chapels are on the main floor, and the office is on the second floor, just on the other side of my bedroom wall. It’s…
Book Review | Gail Godwin | Old Lovegood Girls
Jane Kinney Denning reviews bestselling author Gail Godwin’s new novel Old Lovegood Girls, about a tight friendship between two writers at a women’s junior college.
Changes in the Labor Department: Pregnant in a Pandemic
Pregnant women are experiencing unexpected challenges as the coronavirus hits the healthcare system.
A Toilet Paper Tale
I was barely aware of the ramifications of the recently-announced oncoming pandemic when suddenly there was a stampede for toilet paper. The local government had just announced that, in order to avoid spreading the virus, we “might” have to stay home for two weeks. The schools would close, yada yada yada. I trotted casually to…
A New Day
Just after waking at dawn I was inspired to begin my day by replanting my begonia cuttings back into their old/new home of soil in the pot which has been waiting for them to return. For months, theirs had been an altered, wet reality, reincarnating by sprouting new roots in small perfume bottles and glasses…
Back Up Buster
In early November I was sitting in a church basement, gathered with like-minded people, listening to each other’s stories. When the meeting was over the guy next to me coughed into his hand and then held that hand out to me so I could hold it while we said the serenity prayer. I didn’t take…
The Chaplain’s Job
Rabbi Neal Loevinger, director of spiritual care at Vassar Brothers Medical Center, talks ministering under COVID.
Trapped
My husband usually spends a third of his time in New York City, visiting his father, who is 101. I enjoy his company when he returns, but my hermit tendencies make me relish having the house to myself for a week at a time. Therefore, we were apprehensive about being cooped up together in quarantine,…
Scarlet Fever
I flew from West Palm Beach to Philly on March 14, 2020, worried, like everyone else on the plane, about the air we were breathing. I had read that the window seat might be slightly safer than an aisle seat, so I opted for one. It was a clear, bright day. Even after we leveled…
Day 21
Won’t accept the past tense, lodged in me endless days ago, a woodchuck burrowed into my ribs, a burnt marshmallow down my throat, a dank fog that won’t clear, drums beating between my ears. Sent its fever storming in the front door and took over. Stole away the flavor of coffee, wrung all the bite…
Cancer Horoscope | May 2020
All the stress and hardships you’ve faced will soon be used as tools of experience.
Neil Young for Dummies
Submissions from Coronavirus quarantined readers on everything from their journals, to art projects.
Cool as a Cucumber
One fascinating thing for me to witness during all this is the unexpected, placid calm of my divorced, single, aging parents. To be clear, both of them would only accept the objective, practical truth that apparently, with each passing year, they get older. Otherwise, neither of them really cottons to the assumptions that accompany the passing…
Leo Horoscope | May 2020
Don’t feel bad if you are feeling ignored now, after the storm passes, you will be seen as a wise advisor.
Album Review: Pete Seeger | Think Globally, Act Locally
Album review of Think Globally, Act Locally by Pete Seeger.
Elevator Virus
My apartment building is in Washington Heights. It was built in 1920. It is a proud yet decrepit pre-war veteran of a building, housing 60 units and one small elevator that fits five people, if you’re lucky. This is an elevator story. The elevator is like a tiny prison cell with an automatic sliding door.…
Virgo Horoscope | May 2020
You may spend some of the month caring for others, but make time for some self-healing.
Album Review: Paul Bley/Gary Peacock/Paul Motian | When Will the Blues Leave
Album review of When Will the Blues Leave by Paul Bley/Gary Peacock/Paul Motian.
Front-Line Grocer
We don’t sell empathy on our shelves. We have organic, free range, all natural, local, antibiotic-free, vegan-friendly, and sustainably harvested versions of nearly every product you can think of here at the grocery store, but we don’t sell community in any aisle. Hot breath pollutes the inside of my mask, the latex of my gloves…
Libra Horoscope | May 2020
While this time seems harder for you than others, use your knowledge to help friends.
Album Review: The Gotham Rockets | Blast Off
Album review of Blast Off by Marco Benevento by The Gotham Rockets.
All This Difference
I’m awoken by a different kid each day. There are three of them so maybe there’s a system in place, maybe there are bribes to get out of it. I’ll leave Scott sleeping as he has mid-life insomnia and I’m sure I kicked him once or twice or thirteen times last night, as I have…
Scorpio Horoscope | May 2020
Stop your inward hypochondriac dialogue and use your energy outwardly.
Album Review: Jonell Mosser with John Hall | Little Black Dress
Album review of Little Black Dress by Marco Benevento by Jonell Mosser with John Hall.
Every Scrap of It
The lamp post on my street finally flickered on as I’m confronted with stacks of ketchup packets, over 15 different salad dressings, a rogue expired yogurt, four different half used bags of frozen peas, and an anxious heart. All my food from my fridge and freezer was sprawled out on my kitchen counter, sweating in…
Sagittarius Horoscope | May 2020
This isolation has taken a toll on you. This is the time to take care of both body and mind.
